Textile drafting mechanism



May 3, 1960 G. B. INGRAHAM ETAL 2,934,796A

TEXTILE DRAFTING MEcHANxsM 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Sept. 22, 1955 [FIG INVENT0R.'

JAMES L. TRUSLOW By GHAF/ELP INGIPHl/HM May 3, 1960 G. B. INGRAHAM ETAL 2,934,796

TEXTILE DRAFTING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 22, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TORS JAMES L. TRUSLOW GH/FrELo. 5.1:/vG/efrf/HM rnxrnn DRAWING MECHANISM Gareld B. Ingraham, Falmouth, Maine, and .lames L. Truslow, Beverly, Mass., assignors to Saco-Loweil Shops, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Maine Application September 22, 1955, Serial No. 535,377

6 Claims. (Cl. 19-131) K This invention relates to drafting mechanisms of the type used on spinning and roving frames and the like, and more particularly, to novel positioning and weighting structures for the upper drafting elements of drafting mechanisms of the type wherein a short upper apron cooperates to perform the drafting function with a long lower apron having an apron supporting roll and apron bar within its loop.

In any mechanism of this type, a major problem is the manner of maintaining the upper drafting elements in proper parallel alinement with their cooperating bottom rolls, since, if the parallel relationship is disturbed to such an extent that the axis of a top roll and a bottom roll no longer lie in a common plane, then the contact between the two rolls becomes shortened and the drafting operation becomes erratic and generally unsatisfactory. This problem is particularly troublesome in drafting mechanisms wherein cap bars are employed for lo-' cating the upper drafting elements, since the lparallel relationship is lost as the cap bar bearing slots become worn with use, or when the cap bar tips are improperly set.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a novel positioning and weighting structure for upper draftingl lower apron bar, such bar providing the alinement and support for the top rolls of the structure, so that the advantages of self-alinement may be realized particularly as to the front rolls.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features willl be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings: t

Fig. 1 is a view, mainly in vertical section, showing a drafting mechanism embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a front sectional elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1; and v Fig. 4 is a detail of the mechanism of Fig. 1 taken on the line 4--4 thereof. p

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, the drafting mechanism of the invention in general includes a pair of front or delivery rolls, an intermediate iiber control mechanism for feeding and controlling a strand of discontinuous fibers such as cotton roving or sliver, and behind the ber control mechanism a pair of rear or holding rolls. The liber control mechanism itself includes as a lower unit an endless underlying tiber supporting lower` apron 20-having within its loop a lower apron driving roll 22, an apron 2,934,796 iatented May 3, 1960 bar 24 forward of said apron driving roll, and an apron tensioning roll 28 suitably mounted beneath said apron bar 24 and apron driving roll 22. Its upper unit includes van apron cradle having side members 40 and a tensor 42 extending therebetween, said cradle mounting and positioning an overlying roll and an overlying short apron 30 encircling said roll and tensor. The lower rolls delivery roll i2., holding roll 15, and lower apron driving roll 22 extend for the entire length o-f the spinning frame and are driven by gearing located in the end thereof. The top delivery roll, top holding roll, and top control roll are each of the two boss type wherein a pair of bosses are rotatively mounted on a normally non-rotating arbor. Thus, the top delivery roll includes bosses 14 and arbor 15, and the top holding roll bosses 1S and arbor 19. The bosses 34 of the top control roll are mounted on arbor 36 which is itself positioned at each end thereof by suitable recesses 44 in apron cradle side members 40. Suitable bearings are provided between the bosses and the arbor of each of the top rolls. The short upper apron 30 overhangs the lower apron 20 to cooperate therewith to control a strand -as it passes between the apron, both of the aprons being nipped to drive them between the apron driving roll 22 and the overlying upper roll bosses 34.

The apron cradle includes side members 40 spaced to fit adjacent the sides of a boss 34 to limit lateral movement of the roll, and an apron tensor 42 having a rounded forward apron engaging edge extends between said side members at the forward portion of the cradle inside the loop of upper apron 30, the tensor 42 normally being positioned above apron bar 24 and being the sole transverse structural member extending between said side pieces. The cradle together with a boss 34 on said overlying roll, supports and guids the upper apron 30, the side members 40 of said cradle also functioning to guide the apron 30 to prevent lateral movement thereof with respect to the cradle. The recesses 44 provided on the rear edge of said members 4i) engage the rotatively xed arbor 36 of the upper roll, while the apron 30, encircling a boss 34 and a tensor 42, rmly but removably holds the the cradle and roll together, maintaining them in normal assembled relation both on and off the frame. Such construction provides an apron cradle that is entirely satisfactory from an apron guiding and supporting standpoint, and furthermore one which to a large extent keeps itself clean, since, primarily due to its complete lack of transverse members outside of the loop of the apron, it picks up extraordinarily little ily in operation.

According to the present invention, the arbors 15 and 19 of front and rear top rolls respectively lare located by front and rear overhead saddles which are themselves supported and alined solely by the apron cradle, the cradle itself being supported and alined by the apron bar Z4 locating means. Thus, legs 46 are provided on each side member 40, such legs 46 being spaced outwardly from the inner surface of said side members to provide lateral clearance for both the upper and lower aprons. The legs 46 extend downwardly from said side members and are received in a pair of cooperating recesses 26 in the rear face of apron bar Z4 to provide an accurately determined and fixed lateral position of the cradle relative to the apron bar, while at the same time permitting the cradle to be easily removed by lifting it backwardly and upwardly with the apron 30 and the upper roll. To support the forward end of the cradle and make it selfspacing to provide an accurate vertical clearance between the tensor and the lower apron bar 24, a suitable lug, such as a machine screw 48 is mounted Von the apron tensor between the roll bosses with the head thereof extending downwardly.

To provide a mounting for the saddles, an arm 50 is mounted rigidly on tensor 42 between the bosses 34 of the overlying control roll, said arm extending rearwardly of said tensor over roll arbor 36 with its free end portion 56a positioned generally between the arbors 36 and 19 of the middle top roll and rear top roll respectively. A laterally extending set screw 52 is mounted on said free end portion in a cooperating screw threaded bore therein with lthe ends of said set screw extending laterally outwardly beyond each side of said end portion. An opening 54 having a slightly raised rear edge 56 is provided in said arm somewhat forwardly of the axis of middle top arbor 36.

The rear saddle 60 is of inverted U-shaped cross-sectional conguration and is provided at its rear end with suitable cutouts 62 for engaging the arbor 19 of the rear top roll, a spring 63- being provided for retaining the arbor in said cutouts. Atits front end, the saddle 60 is provided with a downwardly extending tongue 64 which extends through the opening 54 in arm 5t), the upper end of said tongue providing a bearing point for the rear edge 56 on arm Si). The set screw 52 is of such a length as to t within the downturned U-shaped sides of rear saddle 60 to provide a lateral adjustment of said saddle relative to arm l) by adjusting the position 0f said set screw in its bore by turning said set screw until the desired alinement is achieved. Thus, the rear saddle 60 is rigidly supported laterally and alined from the apron cradle by means of its set screw 52 and its tongue 64.

The forward saddle includes a front portion 66 and rear portion 68, said rear portion being pivotally mounted on rear saddle 60 by means of a universal pivot assembly including a bracket 69 mounted on rear saddle 60 for pivotal movement about a pivot shaft 71 perpendicular to the upper surface of said saddle, the forward saddle being in turn mounted on said bracket 69 by a horizontal pivot shaft 70, said universal pivot assembly being located at a point between rear roll arbor 19 and edge 56, and extending forwardly. The front portion 66 of said saddle is mounted on said rear portion for adjustable movement by means of a slot 72 and set screw 74, and has at the forward portion cutouts 76 for receiving the arbor 15 of the front top roll, together with a spring 78 for retaining said arbor in said cutouts.

Weight is applied to the upper rolls by a weighting hook 5S connected to the forward saddle by lugs 59 which engage cutouts in the downturned sides of the rear portion 68 of the front saddle. The hook 58 is weighted by any suitable means (not shown). The cradle and the front and rear top rolls are thus held downwardly to maintain said screw 48 in contact with said apron bar 24, and each of the top rolls in contact with its cooperating bottom rolls, the front top roll being self-alining by virtue of the pivotal mounting of ythe front saddle at the universal pivot assembly.

The weighting hook is arranged to be easily removable so that both saddles and weighting hook may be removed to permit the upper rolls to be removed. Thus, by removing the weighting saddles and the weighting hook, the entire upper short apron assembly, the upper control roll, apron 30 and cradle, as well as the front and rear top rolls, may be removed from the frame. After the aprons, cradles, and their overlying roll comprising the upper apron assembly has been thus removed, the assembly may be taken apart by rst tightening apron 30 suciently to allow arbor 36 to be sprung out of recesses 44, then sliding both the cradle and the apron lengthwise of the upper roll over the boss 34 to remove the apron 30 and the cradle from the roll, and nally sliding the cradle out of the loop of the apron. The assembly is, put together in reverse order, the tension of the apron alone serving to hold it together.

The entire upper apron assembly may be simply and easily lifted out of the frame as hereinbefore explained to facilitate cleaning or changing of aprons without stopping other portions of the spinning frame. Furthermore, with such an arrangement, existing drafting mechanisms of the lower apron type may be quickly and easily converted to a dual apron drafting mechanism simply by removing the existing top rolls and substituting therefor an upper roll, an apron and a cradle with a spacing lug and legs to contact the existing apron bar with suitable holes drilled therein.

We claim:

l; A drafting mechanism of the character described including two sets of devices for feeding and controlling a strand of discontinuous ibers, said sets being arranged one in advance of the other to act successively on a strand, the r'ear set of said devices comprising an endless underlying strand supporting lower apron having within its loop a lower apron driving roll, an apron bar forward of said apron driving roll, and an apron tensioning roll below said apron driving roll for tensioning said apron, and an endless overlying apron mounted above and contacting said` lower apron having within its loop an overlying apron roll and an apron cradle tensor element for- Ward of said overlying apron roll, said overlying roll being mounted on cradle side members and with said cradle tensor element providing an aproncradle having laterally spaced locating means for engaging cooperating laterally spaced locating means on said apron bar to position said overlying roll, apron andv tensor solely with reference to said apron bar andby contact of said overlying rear roll with said underlying rearroll through said aprons.

2. A drafting mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cooperating locating means comprises projections on said' cradle and recesses in said apron bar for receiving said projections.

3. A drafting mechanism as claimed in claim 1 further including means in contact with said apron bar supporting and vertically spacing the forward end of said tensor element from said apron bar to provide a xed clearance between said tensor element and said apron bar.

4. A drafting mechanism as claimed in claim l further including means mounted on said cradle effective to position the top roll of said front set of said devices solely with reference to said cradle and by contact of said front roll with its cooperating bottom roll.

5. A drafting mechanism of the character described including front, middle and rear sets of devices for feeding and controlling a strand of discontinuous bers, said sets being arranged one in advance of the other to act successively on a strand, the front and rear sets of said devices comprising bottom rolls and overlying top rolls and the middle set of said devicesV comprising an endless underlying strand supporting lower apron having within its loop a lower apron driving roll, an apron bar forward of said apron driving roll and an apron tensioning roll below said apron driving roll, and an endless overlying apron mounted above and contacting said lower apron and having within its loop an overlying apron roll and an apron cradle tensor member forward of said overlying apron roll, said overlying roll and said cradle tensor member being mounted at their ends on cradle side members providing laterally spaced projections for engaging cooperating laterally spaced recesses on said apron bar to removably position said overlying middle roll, apron and tensor solely with reference to said apron bar and by contact of said overlying middle roll with said underlying. middle roll through said aprons, a rear saddle mounted rigidly laterally on said cradle and extending between said cradle and said rear top rolls to position said rear top rolls solely with reference to said cradle and by contact of said rear toproll with its underlying bottom roll, a front saddle pivotally mounted on said rear saddle and extending forwardly thereof to position said front top roll solely with reference to said cradle `and by contact of said front top roll wit-h its underlying bottom roll,

and weighting means pressi-ng downwardly on saidfront 5 saddle to press said top rolls against their corresponding bottom rolls.

6. A drafting mechanism of the character described including front, middle and rear sets of devices for feeding and controlling a strand of discontinuous fibers, said sets being arranged one in advance of the other to act successively on a strand, the front and rear sets of said devices comprising bottom rolls, and overlying top rolls and the middle set of said devices comprising an endless underlying strand supporting lower apron having within its loop a lower apron driving roll, an apron bar forward of said apron driving roll and an apron tensioning roll below said apron driving roll, and an endless overlying apron mounted above and contacting said lower apron and having within its loop an overlying apron roll and an apron cradle tensor member forward of said overlying apron roll, said overlying roll and said cradle tensor member being mounted at their ends on cradle side members providing laterally spaced projections for engaging cooperating laterally spaced recesses on said apron bar to removably position said overlying middle roll, apron and tensor solely with reference to said apron bar and by contact of said overlying middle roll with said underlying middle roll through said aprons, a rear saddle extending between said cradle and said rear top rolls, a pivotally mounted front saddle extending forwardly of said rear saddle to position said front top roll, and weighting means pressing downwardly on said saddles to press said top rolls against their corresponding bottom rolls.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,944,965 Casablancas Jan. 30, 1934 2,662,249 Neu Dec. 15, 1953 2,834,996 Rulon-Miller et al.v May 20, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 298,471 Switzerland .L--- May l5, 1954 702,044 Great Britain Ian. 6, 1954 718,470 Great Britain Nov. 17, 1954 1,076,146 France Oct. 22, 1954 

